


Fall Too Easy

by WildWeeb



Category: Vocaloid
Genre: F/F, I have no idea what to call this honestly, coffee shop AU, how about gay trashbag AU, not quite soulmate AU?, that ought to fit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-05
Packaged: 2018-07-12 08:28:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7094272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WildWeeb/pseuds/WildWeeb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Miku definitely does not have feelings for her coworker. That would be ridiculous. She's just interesting to look at, is all. Honestly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fall Too Easy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pyrexprodigy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyrexprodigy/gifts).



> Based on the idea that most people are born with soul tattoos, and every time you fall in love with someone, be it romantic or platonic, their tattoo appears somewhere on your body, and vice versa.

The first thing Miku ever noticed about anyone was their tattoos.

Some people were covered in them. Almost every visible inch of skin was stained with the ink of past love. Some people had few marks besides their own. And, rarely, people with none at all–at least, none that she could see.

There were times she bothered to wonder if anyone paid attention to hers, but it wasn’t much of a concern. For someone fresh out of high school, she doubted she had any more or fewer tattoos than whatever was common for people her own age. And most of hers weren’t the opaque colors of someone who’d fallen in love, just the muted tones of minor crushes or strong platonic feelings. Perfectly common, perfectly normal.

Of course she’d seen those in her class hiding marks that shouldn’t have been there, marks too rich for anything less than love. Those were the uncommon ones, the weird people. Who could fall in love like that at their age? So many times in so few years? It seemed ridiculous. The people with no marks, yes, they were weird too, but a more acceptable sort of weird. They were probably just late bloomers, nothing wrong with that. But people with too many were the wrong ones. People whose tattoos were more than the number of years they’d been alive. People who fell in love too easily, and who could just as easily fall out of it again. People like Sukone Tei.

Miku didn’t know Tei very well. Nothing more than her name, really. But she knew the other girl had to be around her age, and therefore had far too many tattoos. They were like sleeves, almost moving along her skin as she punched in numbers on the register. They were disconcerting.

She’d met Tei after beginning work at a small coffee shop to pay for college. Classes were going to start in the fall, so she had a few months before she’d need to stress over homework and getting a job felt like the right thing to do. Tei had apparently been working there since her first year of high school; she was the one tasked with showing Miku the ropes, teaching her how to work the register and put together orders. It had been more complicated than Miku had expected, but it was never difficult.

Not because of Tei’s help, of course. It was just easy.

Even customers could be easy to deal with. There were always a few impatient or obnoxious ones, of course, but many were polite, or at least quiet about their irritation. Miku found that she didn’t dread customer service as much as she’d thought she would. Small blessings.

It was for that reason that she’d kept this job two months already, and hadn’t looked for another. She supposed working here had become comfortable. She got along with the other staff on her shift, never brought attention to herself. She just existed, and maybe, for now, that was good enough.

But Tei, she’d noted, was much different than her. Tei did exemplary work, unusual considering all she did was make and serve drinks. Tei was friendly with everyone, even rude customers. Tei had far too many tattoos, and didn’t seem embarrassed by them at all. Flaunted them, even. Tei acted as though she felt no shame, no regret, no modesty in any form. Tei was baffling.

At least, Miku found her so. Because someone like that was weird, right? Someone like Tei didn’t quite fit in, shouldn’t be acceptable by any means, and yet her easy sociability made her popular among patrons and staff alike. She always had a smile, it seemed, and Miku had never heard her speak a word against anyone even when they deserved it. Miku would go so far as to call her selfless.

Tei was simply not the kind of person Miku was used to, and she definitely was not thinking about that today. She was taking orders, not watching Tei’s tattoos shift like waves as the pale-haired girl put those orders together. Her eyes did not linger on Tei’s smile as she called out names and served drinks. No, Miku most certainly was not so occupied with thoughts of her fellow employee that she missed half of her current customer’s order.

She missed it for other reasons, surely.

“Um, I’m sorry, can you repeat that?” she asked, feeling her face heat up. The customer was patient, at least, only sighing before slowly repeating his order and name. Miku thought she saw Tei giving her a sympathetic smile from the corner of her eye, but she chose not to look.

Miku checked the clock before the next customer got up to the counter. Five more minutes before her break. She held back a sigh and put on an affable expression. “Can I help who’s next?”

The girl who approached the counter opened her mouth before shutting it again. Her brow creased as she looked at Miku, and her eyes flicked down to her name tag before lighting with recognition. “Miku?” she finally said, pitch raised in question. “Hatsune Miku?”

Miku had no idea who this girl was, but she found herself nodding anyway. “That’s right. Do I, um...do I know you?” She didn’t want to sound rude, but come on, a girl she couldn’t remember meeting before in her life knew her full name.

Said girl smiled somewhat ruefully in response. “No, I suppose you wouldn’t. We went to Yamaha together; I was in class 3-C.” She paused, and then added, “Um, my name’s Yurika, if that helps.”

It was as if a switch had been flipped. “Oh, yeah, you were friends with Gumi, weren’t you? She mentioned a Sayu Yurika sometimes.”

“Yes, that’s right!” Yurika suddenly scratched her head, looking bashful. “I’m surprised you remember something like that, actually.”

Miku absently noted the pale gray snowflake tattoo on Yurika’s forearm. It was only about halfway filled in, but it stuck out somehow. Brushing aside the thought, she smiled back. “I remember little things. If only I could’ve remembered formulas instead,” she joked. “Then maybe my math grades would’ve been better.”

The turquoise-headed girl laughed in response. “Even with a friend like Gumi, you had no skill in math? She was the best in our year, wasn’t she?”

A throat clearing behind her cut off Miku’s answer, and she glanced aside to see Tei. “Ah, right,” she stuttered, inexplicably flustered as she turned back to Yurika. “Right, I’m still working. Um, what were you going to order?”

Yurika’s cheeks reddened to the same shade Miku imagined her own were, and quickly ordered. “It was nice talking with you, though, Miku,” she added as she pulled out the money to pay.

Pressing the buttons on the register to ring her up, Miku glanced at the clock and made a snap decision. “Actually, you know what? My break starts about now. I’ll join you, if you don’t mind.”

“Ah, are you sure?” Yurika sounded hesitant, but her eyes gave away a sense of excitement. “You really don’t need to be here?”

Miku shook her head, pigtails swaying with the motion. “Yuuma’s gonna be in to replace me soon. It’s no problem.” She didn’t bother looking to Tei to see if it really was no problem. It was her break, and she was allowed to spend it however she wanted. And anyway, if Tei was going to stop her, she would have by now.

Yurika clapped, much happier than Miku imagined she would’ve been. “That’s great then! I’ll, um, I’ll go find us a table!” She flounced away from the counter, heading toward a two-seater in the front corner of the shop. Miku sighed, unable to keep a small smile of amusement off her lips.

As expected, Yuuma appeared to take her place, and she moved to go into the sitting area to join Yurika. A tap on her arm stopped her, and she pretended not to shiver when she looked to see Tei standing right next to her. “Since you’re going over, take her drink, will you?” Tei asked, a grin playing at the corner of her mouth as she handed Miku the cup.

“Right...sure, thanks,” Miku said unsurely. Tei must’ve startled her; her heart was still beating a step too fast. “...Anything else?”

Tei actually seemed to need to think before answering. Well, more like debating whether or not to say it. “You and her...well, you both went to the same high school, she said?”

“...Yes?” Miku didn’t see why that was relevant.

The other girl shuffled in place, apparently equally uncertain but for a completely different reason. “It...well...nevermind. Maybe it’s nothing.”

Miku found herself getting impatient with her senior coworker. “Tell me or don’t. Either way is fine with me.”

“Ugh, fine,” Tei said with a roll of her eyes, the most hostile Miku had ever seen her. “She has a crush on you. Or she did at some point. Your tattoo is on her neck.”

She didn’t have a response for that. “She...wha? I-I don’t...are you…?” To be honest, she wasn’t sure if she was more thrown by what Tei had said, or by the fact that she hadn’t noticed first.

Either way, Tei shrugged. “Just a heads-up.” She looked away, cheeks tinged with the faintest hint of red. “Actually, I would’ve thought you’d seen already. You check out everyone’s tattoos.”

Another moment, and then she turned to go back to work. There were still customers, after all.

Miku stood there for another solid thirty seconds before releasing a breath and heading to Yurika’s table, the other girl’s drink in tow. Said girl smiled upon her arrival.

“Something happen?” she asked as Miku sat down. “I saw that white-haired girl talking to you.” Her eyebrows drew together as she leaned forward, expression worried. “You didn’t get in trouble or anything, did you?”

“No,” Miku answered promptly with a shake of her head. “No, nothing like that.” She slid Yurika’s drink across the table to her as she put on a smile of her own. “Just asked me to bring you this, since you sorta left it up there.”

“Oh! Oh, thanks, then!” Yurika flushed as she accepted the cup. “I wasn’t expecting it to be done so soon, I guess. My bad.” She laughed, Miku thought, a little awkwardly, but it was almost endearing nonetheless.

“It really was no trouble,” Miku told her, a grin threatening to form. Abruptly she found her eyes straying to Yurika’s neck, but quickly tore her gaze away. “So, um, anyway,” she went on, trying to keep her focus on the other girl’s face, “what’ve you been up to? Since graduation, I mean.”

Yurika hummed as she apparently considered how to answer. “Not much, to tell you the truth. Been looking for a job, but haven’t had much luck there.” She let out a self-deprecating chuckle. “At least I don’t start school until next spring.”

“Next spring?” Some of Miku’s classmates had started college already. Sure, she had chosen to wait until the fall so she could save up money for at least some of the tuition, but a whole year? “What did your parents say about that?”

“Oh, they don’t mind,” Yurika said, waving her hand as though brushing away the words. “They want what’s best for me, and they think I might know better than them what that is right now.”

“Huh,” was all Miku could think to say. Most parents, as far as she knew, weren’t so generous in giving their kids freedom even when they were technically adults. Some kind of protective instinct, she’d always figured. Yurika was luckier than she knew.

“Um…” Yurika’s voice jolted Miku from her ruminations. “What about you? Have you started school yet or…?”

“Oh, uh, no, not until fall.” Miku found herself grinning. “My parents weren’t too pleased when I told them I wanted to take a break for a few months. You know, try to put some money together.” She shrugged, finding her eyes drifting toward the window. “But at least they agreed it was logical.”

“Ah, then, are they supporting you financially at all…?” Yurika’s voice had a careful edge to it, as if wary of intruding on personal issues. Miku could’ve laughed; what did she have to hide?

She brought her gaze back to meet Yurika’s and answered, “They say they’ll help with whatever I don’t end up making on my own. I’m still living with them for the time being, though.” She paused to stretch her arms above her head and glance at the time. “The school I’ll be going to isn’t far from here, so transportation costs aren’t an issue.”  _ I really should’ve bugged them to let me get a license _ , she thought to herself. No point in saying that, though.

Yurika nodded slowly, unsure how to continue the conversation. Miku’s eyes flicked to her arm again, to the snowflake. Whose was that, she wondered? Was it old or recent? Would it be impolite to ask?

The other girl must’ve noticed her looking. “Were you wondering about this?” she asked with a hint of a grin. Miku felt her face heat; she’d thought she was being more discreet than that. But Yurika just laughed. “I don’t mind talking about my tattoos. I know some people do, but if you wanna know you can just ask.”

“R-right.” Miku averted her gaze and absently scratched the back of her neck. “I was...just wondering whose it was, I guess. I feel like I’ve seen it before.”

“A classmate of mine,” Yurika answered, sipping her drink. had she been sipping it this whole time? Miku hadn’t noticed either way. “Sekka Yufu. I think a lot of people liked her at some point or another.” A sly grin spread across her face. “But none of them are dating her right now, so…”

The name sounded vaguely familiar, but it was no one Miku had ever actually talked to. Regardless, she smirked back. “So I take it you are?”

Yurika hummed in affirmation. “Have been since just before graduation.”

“Well, hey, good for you!” Miku chose not to mention how Yurika’s face seemed to glow at talking about her girlfriend, or how the snowflake looked ever so slightly darker than just a minute ago. “Actually, I haven’t dated much myself.”

“Eh, really? There were plenty of rumors about you and the Kagamine boy.”

Miku waved her hand, much like Yurika had earlier. Huh. “We dated for, like, a week during our first year. It didn’t work out and we stayed friends, is all.” Yurika looked ready to reply, but Miku cut her off. “I had a crush on Megurine for a little bit, but we never dated. Same with Shion.” She stuck out her leg, showing the limpid blue lines of Kaito’s tattoo there. “Never anything serious.”

Yurika opened her mouth as if to say something, but closed it before she could. She glanced back toward the counter, and then at Miku again. “So, um, like...what about that girl?” Miku’s expression must’ve given away her confusion, because Yurika clarified, “The one with the white hair, what’s...with all her tattoos?”

“I...you know, I really don’t know,” Miku said, choosing not to add that it made her too uncomfortable to ask. She couldn’t help looking over at the subject of conversation, still wearing that stupid genuine smile as she made up orders and called them out. If Miku remembered correctly, Tei had once mentioned that she worked two shifts during the school year, because so many employees were students. How did she do all that with such a bright smile?

Her thoughts about Tei would’ve gone on had the sound of Yurika clearing her throat not broken her out of them. “I think your break’s about over, but, um…” She shuffled, picking up her cup and putting it down again. From the sound it made each time it hit the table, Miku guessed it was empty. “Listen, it was really nice, talking to you. And I know you saw this,” she added with a gesture to Miku’s tattoo on her neck, “But you don’t have to worry about it or anything. It was a high school crush; I’m over it now.” She smiled again, and suddenly the purity of it all was too much for Miku to look at directly.

“But, um, hey,” Yurika went on, sounding just a bit more serious. “Don’t judge your coworker too harshly or anything, okay? I know seeing someone with so many tattoos is...I don’t know. Unsettling, I guess.” She paused to face Miku directly. “But they don’t make her a bad person. They don’t say anything about that, actually.” Suddenly sheepish, Yurika averted her eyes once more. Miku absently thought she needed to figure out whether she was going to be straightforward or shy, but couldn’t resist looking back at Tei as she went over Yurika’s words.

Tei wasn’t a bad person; Miku could see that plainly enough for herself. She saw that every single day from ten to five. She didn’t need to hear it from anyone else.

But then, maybe she did.

Clearing her throat, Yurika stood up. “Maybe I shouldn’t butt in; my apologies.” Then she smiled again. “It was nice talking with you, Miku. I hope we can meet up again sometime?”

Miku only hummed in affirmation, not really up for any more conversation with the other girl. A glance at the clock told her she had maybe a minute left in her break. With a mildly hurt look, Yurika waved and turned, heading out the door. After a moment Miku stood, needing to get back to work soon. She’d enjoyed talking with the other girl; it was unfortunate that they’d had to end on such an uncomfortable topic. But there was nothing to be done for it now.

“You okay?” Tei asked as Miku stepped behind the counter.

Miku gave her a look, though what kind of look it was, she wasn’t entirely sure of. “Yeah, why?”

Tei shrugged, averting her eyes. “I don’t know, you just seem...I don’t know. Not okay.”

Miku fixed Tei with whatever look it was she had for another several seconds before she shrugged and moved toward the door to the back. “Either way, I’m fine. I’m gonna bring out more pastries; the display’s running low.” She wasn’t sure why she couldn’t bring herself to thank Tei for her consideration, at least, and decided she’d rather not dwell on it. She didn’t want to dwell on anything that had to do with Tei. Or she tried not to want to.

If she were honest with herself, Tei had been taking up most of the space in her thoughts lately. Her cloudlike hair, her bloody crimson eyes, even the ocean of tattoos down her arms, Miku kept thinking about all of it. But she wasn’t honest with herself, and preferred to imagine that the feelings stirred up by any mention of the girl had other explanations. Liking someone who fell in love so easily was pointless. Her friend Meiji could attest to that.

Trying to recall which displays had looked almost empty, Miku gathered trays of lemon squares, blueberry cake, and sugar cookies and balanced them as best she could while backing out through the door. Just in time, too, as she heard the customer Yuuma was speaking to ask for a piece of the blueberry cake. She slid the trays in their respective places with an apologetic smile at the customer. Yuuma nodded in thanks, ringing up the customer’s order while Tei fixed their drink. 

They didn’t seem to need her just now, so Miku went back again to find something else to keep her busy. She could always bake more of the pastries they didn’t already have, but they always left that up to Tei for the most part. It wasn’t that Miku didn’t know how; it was just...Tei’s thing.

“What’s up?”

Miku was almost sure she’d jumped a good few inches at the unexpected sound of Tei’s voice behind her. She turned to face her coworker, hand on her chest. “Holy shit, Tei, when did you–”

“Just now,” Tei answered with a loose shrug, cutting her off. “Yuuma said he could take care of drinks; I wanted to see if you were okay.”

Ugh. Typical Tei. Always so kind and thoughtful. It was disgusting.

Miku chose not to voice that sentiment. “No, yeah, I’m good.” Her heart still hadn’t slowed down any; Tei must’ve really startled her. “Just didn’t look like I was needed out there, so…”

“Wanted something to do?” Tei asked, giving Miku a small, friendly smile.

“Y-yeah, something like that.” Suddenly Miku couldn’t look at her, and chose to focus instead on a muffin sitting on the table next to her. She couldn’t tell what kind it was, but it had little dark dots. Either chocolate chip or blueberry, probably. Out of the corner of her eye she could just see Tei’s smile falling into a frown.

“Well, you can go out there and make drinks if you want,” she said, voice not betraying the worry in her creased brow. “I’ll take care of things in here.”

Miku nodded stiffly. “Yeah. Yeah, sure. I can do that.” She tried to smile at Tei, really she did, but somehow she still couldn’t meet her eyes. “Thanks,” she added, shoving through the door and to the counter.

Yuuma was just finishing up an order, it seemed, and upon seeing Miku only nodded at her as he remained behind the register to wait for another customer. It wasn’t long before a harried man walked in, only somewhat focused on where he was walking with the rest of his attention on his phone. Miku recognized him as a regular.

“Latte with cinnamon,” he said before Yuuma could so much as greet him. Somehow, though, Yuuma remained patient, asking if that was all as he punched the order into the register. Miku already knew it was; the man ordered the same thing each time he came in. Whenever she’d been at the register, she’d charged him just a bit extra, partly because he was so impolite and partly to see if he’d even notice. Which he didn’t, but she always put the extra change in the donation box rather than the register as if that made it any better. Either way, Yuuma had heaps more tolerance than she could ever muster.

She’d finished fixing his drink and was setting it on the counter when he let out an unexpected yell at whatever was on his phone, hand lashing out for the cup. It must have been closer than he’d realized, though, because rather than grabbing it, he whacked it at Miku.

The lid popped off as it struck her chest, splashing scalding coffee across her face and down the front of her shirt. Miku swore, not quite under her breath, as her skin burned, and with a quick apology she ran into the back. She barely registered Tei’s head snapping up at her entrance as she ran to the sink, turning the faucet for cold water and sticking her head under it. Which probably wasn’t the best treatment for coffee burns, but it was what she had at the moment.

The frigid water was a bit of a shock against her heated skin, and for a moment she had to force herself not to pull away. Gradually, though, it did the trick, and while the injury still seared it was bearable. After a minute she slowly turned the water off, still hunched over the sink. The pain would come back, she knew, but to a lesser extent; there wouldn’t be any lasting impact. Why had she made that coffee so  _ hot _ ? It wouldn’t surprise her if her skin remained blistered for another week.

And her chest and stomach had been hit, too. She’d honestly almost forgotten; the presence of her shirt must have somehow dulled the pain to some degree.

“What happened?” came Tei’s voice, and Miku stood and faced the girl. She looked concerned, eyes darting from Miku’s face to her shirt and back, and Miku found herself avoiding that gaze once again.

“Customer spilled his drink on me,” she mumbled. Her face was heating up again; it must have been the injury. “Do you, um...do you mind if I…?” Miku gestured to the shirt uncertainly.

Tei’s eyes seemed to widen for just a moment. “Oh. Oh! No, you can...just do what you need, I won’t look or anything.”

“I don’t care whether you look or not,” Miku said with a wave. It occurred to her after the words were out that she probably sounded rude, but it wasn’t like she could do anything about that now. Not waiting for Tei’s response, she turned away and pulled the shirt up, peeling wet fabric from her skin as she lifted it over her head. She thought she heard a sharp intake of breath behind her, but she couldn’t be sure. The skin of her chest and belly was an angry red, and would very likely remain so for days to come, but as with her face, there didn’t seem to be any serious damage. It still hurt, of course, but she could take it.

Miku turned back to look at Tei, only to find that her face was as red as Miku’s own. Suddenly shy, she crossed her arms over her chest and asked, “Sorry, but, um...do you have any spare clothes I could wear? This is kinda…” She held her own sopping shirt out, and Tei nodded abruptly.

“No, yeah, I know. Um...I have a jacket, if that’s okay?” She seemed flustered, focusing so hard on Miku’s face that the teal-haired barista felt she was avoiding looking anywhere else.

She decided not to mention that, though. “Yeah, that’ll work. Um, thanks.” The two of them stood in an uncomfortable silence for all of nine seconds before Miku added, “So were you gonna get that, or…?”

“Oh, er– yeah, yeah, I will, sorry,” Tei stuttered out before swiveling on her heel and heading back to the staff lockers. A minute hadn’t passed before she returned, pale pink jacket in hand.

Miku accepted it gratefully, throwing it around her shoulders and sliding her arms in through the sleeves. It was as she was pulling up the zipper that Tei blurted, “Are you curious about my tattoos?”

The outburst was enough of a surprise that Miku froze, the zipper stopped just below the line of her bra. “Um. I’m sorry?”

“My tattoos,” she repeated, suddenly speaking in a rush. “No offense but I’ve noticed you looking and, well, I don’t want you to think there’s anything wrong with me for having them, and I know, why should I care what you think, but the thing is I do care and it’s fair to tell you that almost all of them belong to people who fell in love with me first and, I don’t know, when I find out someone loves me I just can’t help loving them, or maybe the idea of them? it’s kind of confusing I know but I just want to make it clear that falling in love with the idea of someone is different from falling in love with them even if the tattoo shows up the same.” It was at that point that Tei actually paused to take a breath, and when she didn’t continue Miku cautiously thought she might have finished.

“So,” she started uncertainly, “you...don’t fall in love with people...but with the idea of them?”

Tei nodded, swallowing. “I don’t really tell anyone. But it’s like...the idea of them loving me, I guess? That’s what I fall in love with, and for whatever reason, their tattoos still appear on me. But actual people, not...clouded...by the idea of them loving me...does that make any sense? I’ve only fallen for two or three people who didn’t love me first.”

Miku almost thought she understood. Tei did fall in love too easily, but not with real people, in a sense. It was a simple concept, but one impossible to put into words. Still, even if she did get it, that left one other question.

“Then...why tell me?”

A sudden silence fell over them as Tei finally dropped her stare, and for a long minute she didn’t speak. Miku found herself growing increasingly agitated with the passing seconds, wondering just what motivation the other girl could possibly have to tell her something so personal, and had opened her mouth to speak just as Tei started to answer.

Then they both stopped and looked at each other. Hoping to avoid another moment of reticence, Miku gestured to Tei to speak. So with a deep breath, she did.

“On your back. You have a tattoo... _ my _ tattoo...on your back.” Then, her breath uneven and her voice shaky, she pulled up her shirt just enough to expose her belly. “And I have yours.”

At first Miku was distracted by the profusion of ink coloring Tei’s surprisingly muscular abdomen. Some tattoos bled into others so that Miku could barely tell there was more than one in those spots. But then she saw it: there, to the left of her navel, was a filmy aqua-tinted gardenia, the tattoo that Miku had seen on her own wrist since birth.

Remembering the first part of Tei’s confession, Miku twisted around and tried to look at her back, pulling the fabric of Tei’s jacket aside. There, at the small of her back, almost centered over her spine, was a tattoo. A red and pink butterfly, specifically. One she’d glimpsed on Tei’s wrist on more than one occasion but had never thought much about. Slowly, she turned back to face Tei, and saw that the girl was holding out her wrist for Miku to see. As if she would expect to see anything but that butterfly.

She didn’t know what to say. Even if she did, she wasn’t sure she could say it. She loved Tei. More than that, Tei loved her. What was she  _ supposed _ to say? What were the two of them supposed to do now?

Tei grinned suddenly, and then laughed. The sound just spewed from her gut, and she doubled over. “What happens now, then? Do we just pretend this didn’t happen or what?”

A valid question, and not at all a humorous one, but somehow Miku wanted to laugh, too. She felt an unbidden smile cross her own face and gave an exaggerated shrug. Offhandedly, she hoped Yuuma was doing okay out front by himself, but she didn’t pay much attention to that thought. “Actually...what the hell? Let’s go out.”

Tei looked up at her, still grinning, her laughter barely under control. “Wait, seriously? You wanna go out?”

“Yeah, why not?” Miku didn’t want to laugh, but somehow she felt like she was going to. This day had quickly turned very surreal. “Are you free Sunday?”

The white-haired girl nodded, still smiling but no longer laughing. “Yeah, yeah I am. We’ll meet here at one?”

“That works. Here at one. And then what?”

Tei rolled her shoulders and only answered, “It’ll be a surprise. For both of us.” Then she beamed, and Miku found it in her to admit that her heart stopped for a moment.

**Author's Note:**

> what are endings


End file.
